Series

Documenting Russia

The Documenting Russia series highlights the little histories of everyday people encountering powerful institutional forces—the Soviet sports machine (Red Army); famine, World War II, and Stalin’s terror (Love is Potatoes); and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war in the Donbas (Oleg’s Choice). Each documentary film takes the perspective of individuals—11 hockey players, six village sisters, and two volunteer soldiers—going beyond stereotypes about the Soviet Union and “Putin’s Russia” to explore deep stories of human frailty, resilience, and survival in Russia’s past and present. This partnership is supported through IU Cinema’s Creative Collaborations program.

This series is sponsored by the Russian and East European Institute, Russian Studies Workshop (with funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York), the Center for Documentary Research and Practice, and IU Cinema.